Habitat selection guiding agri-environment schemes for a farmland specialist, the brown hare
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Published source details
Petrovan S.O., Ward A.I. & Wheeler P.M. (2013) Habitat selection guiding agri-environment schemes for a farmland specialist, the brown hare. Animal Conservation, 16, 344-352.
Published source details Petrovan S.O., Ward A.I. & Wheeler P.M. (2013) Habitat selection guiding agri-environment schemes for a farmland specialist, the brown hare. Animal Conservation, 16, 344-352.
Actions
This study is summarised as evidence for the following.
Action | Category | |
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Create uncultivated margins around intensive arable or pasture fields Action Link |
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Create uncultivated margins around intensive arable or pasture fields
A site comparison study in 2009–2010 in a mixed farming area in North Yorkshire, UK (Petrovan et al. 2013) found that agri-environment grassy field margins had disproportionately high usage by brown hares Lepus europaeus during both feeding and resting periods, relative to available habitat areas. Hares spent 6.9% of time in grassy field margins during their main activity period and 13.0% during their inactive period, compared to margins covering of 3.5% of the study site. A total length of 10.8 km of grassy margins was established at field edges and along waterways within a 311-ha study area, through agri-environment funding. Margins comprised 2-m-wide strips and 6-m-wide ‘conservation headlands’. They were seeded with a commercial field margin grass mixture, were not sprayed and were cut every two to three years. Fourteen adult hares were radio-tracked, for an average of 186 days each, between July 2009 and August 2010.
(Summarised by: Nick Littlewood)
Output references
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